How Did Spiders Get Into My New England Home?

How a spider got into your New England home partly depends on which species of spider it is. Spiders that feed predominantly on beetles and other ground-dwelling bugs are likely to get in through ground-level entry points. Spiders that subsist on flying insects are likely to get in through higher entry points on your home. Let's take a look at some of those possible entry points.

Low Entry Points

All spiders can come in through low entry points, even spiders that prefer flying insects. But spiders that eat beetles, cockroaches, silverfish, earwigs and other ground critters are most likely to take advantage of these entry points because there are simply more of them hanging out in ground-level areas. The most common low entry points are:

Basement doors. There are many ways a spider can use your basement doors as an entry. They can crawl right through a door that is left open. They can squeeze past a gap in weather stripping or squeeze under a damaged door sweep. They can get in through a damaged seal around a frame. And they can use holes created by rodents and other pests.

• Basement windows. If you have windows that lead into your basement, they can give spiders quick entry. Spiders can get in through damaged seals around window frames. They can use an opening in a broken glass pane to gain access to rodent and insect holes on the interior of the window frames. If there are no pest holes in your window frames, often spiders will set up shop between your screens and your window panes or within the void between two window panes. This can be annoying but at least those spiders aren't getting all the way in.
• Garage doors. One great feature that garage doors have is that they will fail to go down if the frame around the garage door begins to pull away from the wood framing of your garage. This helps to alert you to potential gaps that are appearing around your frame. And, since making sure your garage door goes all the way down is important, you get the side benefit of pest control. But gaps that develop at the base or on the corners of a garage door can go undetected. These can give spiders a route into your garage, and potentially a route into your home.
• Gaps around plumbing. When plumbing is installed, there is often a gap around pipes to make it easy to get those unyielding pipes into place. This gap can be sealed with many products. If the seal becomes deteriorated or begins to chip, an entry point can develop around those pipes.
• Cracks in mortar and cement. Over time, the basement walls, foundation slab and mortar around bricks can develop cracks. If these cracks are large enough, they can give entry to spiders, especially small spiders like the American house spider.

High Entry Points

Spiders that establish their webs in high places can accidentally come in through high entry points. The most common high entry points are:

• Doors and windows. This includes front doors that have stairs leading up to them and windows and doors from the 1st floor up. Spiders will find their way past screens and exploit any gaps or holes inside and around frames.
• Vents. If you have exhaust vents, they may be used by spiders to gain entry.
• Eaves and rooflines. A home can have many gaps and holes in these areas. Some are created by squirrels, roof rats, or other pests. Some are created by weather conditions. Some just develop over time as a home settles.
• Gaps around roof exhaust pipes. If you have an exhaust pipe on your roof, the gasket around that pipe could be targeted by raccoons, squirrels, roof rats and more. This will give spiders a hole to enter through. It will also create the potential for water damage.

How to Get Spiders Out

If you have spiders in your home, the best solution is to hire a licensed professional because spider control is complicated. Not only is it difficult to get rid of spiders inside a home, it can be nearly impossible to seal all of the entry points spiders can use to get into a home. The pest professionals here at American Pest Solutions use field-tested pest control methods and products to locate and eliminate spiders. Once this is done, they can also provide ongoing residential pest control to create a barrier around your home that will take down spiders before they find holes to get in through.

If you live in our Massachusetts or Connecticut service areas, reach out to us. We're here to help.